Everybody is a star
Oct 6, 2005 10:16 AM
Orchestral music teacher Gary Fogel watches Tom Kirchmer - a musician himself - repair a violin in the school's instrument repair shop.
Frank describes her 38 years at LaGuardia as “an incredible journey.” During these “marvelous years,” she said, “you get close to the kids and many are still close friends.” Although Frank retired last year, she continues to teach junior-level classes.
The school’s mission, she noted, had once been talent only — students were selected based only on auditions or portfolio — until it became more academically focused some eight years ago “so a lot of talented kids now can’t make the grade,” she said.
On the other hand, today’s students must meet high academic standards along with vigorous conservatory-style training. Many more of them are going on to the top colleges and conservatories in the country.
If requirements are high for students, the bar is exceptionally high for staff. Stephen Weinstach’s resumé included 25 years as a professional musician and a Ph.D., but he had to “scramble for education credits” to become a licensed accompanist for dance classes. “But,” he said, “this is not just any high school. It’s a very special place.”
Music teacher Paula Washington rehearses between classes for her own professional appearances.
Washington, who also has a doctorate and continues to play with chamber music groups, the Broadway Bach Ensemble and the Bergen Philharmonic, said of her 24 years at the school: “It’s like dying and going to heaven.”
As a student at Music and Art, she said, she had “some of the best teachers I’ve ever had, so I wanted to give back.”
Washington is concerned that the loss of music instruction in so many junior high schools has hurt the chances of talented students who can’t afford private lessons.
“Foreign students,” she said, “have the necessary skills when they apply because music and art are part of their basic education.”
New Yorkers line up for an unexpected treat as music students in the senior orchestra fill Lincoln Center Plaza with Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6. The school's jazz band and symphonic band also participated in LaGuardia Day at Lincoln Center.
While the consensus among staff seems to be that LaGuardia is a great school with astounding kids, staff development there, as in so many other schools, came in for some criticism.
King called it “90 percent irrelevant; so generic it doesn’t help anyone.” Washington would prefer “they don’t tell us what to do. Just let us do it, just unfetter us, take off the chains. It’s disrespectful to teachers. Nobody around here is shirking work.” Another who said, “We speak but nobody listens,” described the academic staff as “demoralized.”
LaGuardia Arts is blessed with very supportive parents and an active, star-studded alumni association with its own Web site (see below). Studio teachers agree the school remains a microcosm of the city’s diversity and still has its pick of the most gifted and talented students.
The stars of tomorrow.
